User blog:CEDJunior/The Tragic Tale of Jillian Hall's WWE Career
I know the word "tragic" is a bit dramatic, but in the case of Jillian Hall's lengthy tenure in WWE, I feel that it fits. Long before the peroxide, the implants, and the nip and tucks, Jillian had a promising start to her wrestling career in the independent circuit working as the evil Macaela Mercedes, a strong and arrogant villain. It was in 2003 that Jillian joined WWE via their developmental territory (at the time), Ohio Valley Wrestling, and it was in developmental that she changed her look by getting the implants and becoming a blonde. Her real-life enhancements were written into an angle, which had the implants leak into her brain and turn her into a psychotic villainess. It was on July 28, 2005 that Jillian finally debuted on WWE TV on that night's edition of SmackDown!. I had heard of her at the time, but that night was the first time I saw her. Jillian debuted as a heel, which was no surprise to me in the least. From the first moment I saw her, I felt that Jillian had the look of a natural heel. Jillian portrayed the evil publicist to MNM, which was a good heel gimmick for her, but there was one thing I couldn't help but be troubled with. For some ungodly reason, the writers decided to have Jillian walk around with a grotesque "mole" on her face! Seriously? For what purpose? I've still yet to figure it out. The "mole" aside, Jillian played her heel role brilliantly; a role which would later see her as the publicist for JBL by late 2005-early 2006. Thankfully, The Boogeyman bit off the "mole" in January of 2006. After being fired by JBL, Jillian turned face and feuded with former client Melina for a brief while before aligning with Ashley Massaro against the heel tandem Michelle McCool and Kristal Marshall. Jillian's face run didn't last long, and she was back to being a villainess by early 2007. In no time, Jillian's first heel photoshoot was released by WWE shortly after her turn. The picture shown is part of that shoot, which features the evil Jillian posing in a revealing and sexy black outfit; with an expression that captures her reborn heel side. I was really looking forward to Heel Jillian 2.0; figuring that she would be more intense now that she was competing in the ring. How wrong I would be. Just a few months after turning Jillian heel, the powers that be decided to portray her as a horrible singer. Why? Here's the backstory. Around that same time, Brooke Hogan, the daughter of WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan, was working on an actual singing career of her own. So right then, I knew that Jillian's gimmick was a "shot" of sorts at Brooke. I wouldn't learn why until very recently. Apparently, Vince McMahon was upset at Hulk for publicly telling details regarding WrestleMania 23 that were supposed to be a secret. So as payback, Vince decided to have Jillian act as this bad singer as a shot at Brooke. It didn't matter that the gimmick, IMO, flat out killed the stock of a Diva who was loaded with talent. As long as Vince got his revenge. For a long time, I was waiting for Jillian to become champion. It didn't matter if it was the Women's Championship or the Divas Championship; I felt that Jillian deserved a title run. On October 12, 2009, Jillian got her title run, but to this day, I still dispute that. You know the story. On that night's edition of Raw, Jillian defeated Mickie James to win her first Divas Championship. Just as she was celebrating, she was interrupted by one of the show's guest hosts, Nancy O'Dell, who told her that she had to defend the title against one of Raw's newly acquired Divas, which happened to be Melina. Jillian lost the title to Melina; giving her the shortest Divas Championship reign in WWE history. According to websites, Jillian held the Divas Championship for 4 1/2 minutes! Four and a half minutes! Are you kidding me?! Jillian was released from WWE in the fall of 2010. Every time I think back to Jillian's time in WWE, I just shake my head. For all her natural talent and personality, she was saddled with bad gimmick after bad gimmick after bad gimmick, and was severely underutilized and overlooked. And don't get me started on her "title reign," which was shorter than the average length of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. To this day, Jillian hasn't had any complaints about her time in WWE, but I and the rest of the fans know that she definitely deserved better. Since her time in WWE ended, Jillian has frequented the independent circuit and recently made appearances for TNA. Most notably, Jillian worked the Knockouts Knockdown PPV as a villain in a losing effort to Velvet Sky. I hope Jillian does join TNA some day. Not only would she be very valuable to the Knockouts Division, but I think TNA will give Jillian the proper push that WWE denied her. Category:Blog posts